INSIDE & OUT : Lighten UP
When it comes to chandeliers, practicality is usually missing. Cleaning and dusting these sometimes grand, sometimes elegant lighting fixtures can be more trouble than they’re worth.
Fortunately, someone has seen the light.
French designer Andree Putman combines practicality with the showmanship of a chandelier, creating the pulley lamp as part of the Pampilles collection, a line of 10 lamps, sconces and mirrors offered through Baccarat of France.
Putman, a Modernist, melded her contemporary ideals with the tradition of Baccarat to create the pulley lamp.
The lamp ($1,700), which has an opal glass shade, is framed by matte nickel that has been plated and trimmed with hand-cut crystal prisms that diffuse the light for a dramatic effect.
The counterweight has a crystal ball filled with steel beads, enabling the lamp to be raised or lowered for more or less illumination and for cleaning.
The lamp and other pieces in the collection (starting at $250) can be purchased from Baccarat’s New York office by calling (800) 333-6887.
UNDER COVER
Need a quick, inexpensive change? Want to try a new style, but don’t want to sink a lot of money into it?
Slipcovers can be ideal for covering old or worn furniture, protecting new pieces or pulling together a room. The Sure Fit slipcover manufacturing firm has introduced a new line, called Casual Slipcovers, that make dressing furniture simple. Each cover consists of a large piece of fabric and a matching skirt, which comes in a gathered or straight style. The cover is draped and tucked, then the skirt added. There are several draping styles, explained in a brochure or on a short videotape offered by the company.
“It’s easy to do, and it looks great,” said Liana Toscanini, spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania-based company. “They work great in vacation homes, family rooms or apartments.
The covers are machine washable.
The designs, such as country checks, stripes, florals and Southwest geometrics, come in five fabrics--poly/cottons, upholstery weight yard-dyed wovens, textured bark cloth, cotton damask and jacquard wovens.
Casual Slipcovers (about $40 to $160) are available at Linen ‘n Things, Strouds and Target stores throughout the county.
To order the brochure ($2 includes shipping and handling) or the videotape ($4.50 includes shipping and handling) write to Sure Fit, East Broad and Wood Street, Bethlehem, PA 18016.
CARBON MONOXIDE DETECTOR
More than half of the fatal poisonings in the United States are attributable to carbon monoxide.
The gas, virtually impossible to detect without a special monitoring device, can be produced by grills, fireplaces, gas clothes dryers, portable heaters, furnaces, gas water heaters and gas stoves and ovens.
Two companies, First Alert and Nighthawk Systems, have introduced carbon-monoxide detectors to help alert people if the gas is present in their homes.
First Alert’s detector (about $60) is battery operated, meets Underwriters Laboratories standards and has an alarm that will not respond to other gases. It also has a test button to ensure that it is working properly.
The Nighthawk 2000 (about $80) also meets UL standards, has an alarm and runs on household current. It also has a continuous digital display of CO levels.
Both detectors are available at hardware stores and home centers throughout the county.
